Annunciation
by Kamikakushi
Summary: [The Bible - Part III] Gabriel, the Great Cherubim, the Angel of Water, a perfect doll frozen in time, as everything changes around her. Yet, what does she see for our humanity? What does she See?


_**Annunciation **_

By Jia Zhang

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There was no other Angel who loved Humanity more than Gabriel—the messenger to the Holy Virgin Mary, who brought forth Annunciation.

Gabriel cared for humans deeply, even if her fellow Angels thought it to be rather bizarre, that a Cherubim like her would love such simple minded creatures so deeply. Ah, but Gabriel loved them—loved them for their simplicity, loved them for their guilt, their pain, and their absolute devotion to God.

Sometimes, Gabriel wondered what was God's purpose for creating these creatures. They always existed as a medium between good and evil. Humans carried a capacity for evil, yet they could also create such visions of hope and integrity that surpassed that of any Angel. All this Humans did, with the words of God and goodness in their minds and heart—unwritten laws that bind and raise them on an equilibrium that was as unsteady as the sea.

But Gabriel always marveled at their abilities, through the thousands of millennias that she had watched them, through times of strife and harmony. She awed at their ability to crawl out of the ashes, a phoenix reborn into a world that was absolutely unforgiving. Gabriel, the Great Cherubim, the Angel of Water, had learnt much from watching the simple-minded humans.

Gabriel remembers, from a long time ago, the task that was given to her—the task of Annunciation. She brought a gift to a mother's untainted womb, an Earth untouched and pure, and changed the face of Humanity for all of its existence. And Gabriel watched with great curiosity as the child, Jesus, grew into a man.

She found him to be utterly perfect. He held no such hatred in his heart, only kindness and forgiveness. He held no retributions towards his brother Man, only love for a fellow being. He loved Humanity when he had fallen to the people's hysteria. He loved Humanity when he was whipped, his flesh, blood and bone made raw, dug up like earth. And to his very last breath, this simple man loved all and bared all for a world that had turned its back on him.

Gabriel marveled at this being.

He was, as all other Angels would say, a simple-minded human that was part of God's grand calculations.

Yet, Gabriel would always believe him to be something of absolute perfection—a thing more pure and sacred than all else in the universe.

Gabriel knew this to be the truth, for as an Angel she had learnt first hand how they were not the pure and crystal white creatures humans had dreamt them to be. No, the Angels were far from perfect; they bickered, and hated, and lusted—too bound by rules that they did not believe in, and desperately wanting to fall to the gravity of the Flesh.

Gabriel admired the human resilience towards Evil, and their ability to always come through the bitter Inferno. She always believed that following the example of the Human Capacity, the race of Angels could benefit so much more—so that they can finally become the idealism that the humans had always believed in.

She thrived to make it better, a mother determined to make her child succeed, whether she rotted away in the dark corners of a bitter world. She was an Angel of righteousness, who answered the call of Justice and the Holy Word. Yet, even she would become a victim to a dream that shall never truly be real.

She was a constant opposition in Sevotharte's path. The Great White Angel, seen as the purest of them all, was nonetheless the most tainted of them all. Gabriel had realized this from the beginning, and she did all she could to resist against the calm of the Storm. But Noah's Ark sank into a bitter ocean of deceit, and the Angel of Annunciation was silenced.

She became an immobile doll, beautiful to look at, but forbidden to touch. Gabriel's very soul had drifted among the humans she had loved so much, and her body was adored by an innocent little boy, who carried the title of the Prince of the Angels.

And Gabriel remained as a spectator, at the lives of the humans, unfolding with bitter hardships, painful romances, dear love stories, and glorious unions. Gabriel came to love it all even more, the wonder that was Humanity.

Gabriel watched, a simple bystander, as the story of the Messiah unfolded before her—a true test not only to Humanity, but all else in the universe. If she could have wept, she would have created an ocean—she felt such empathy towards Setsuna and Sara, two simple souls lost in each other's love, a taboo that was hated by all.

Yet, she began to realize, as the events came to unfold, that indeed, Setsuna and Sara were like the very Humanity that looked down upon their love. They were phoenixes, able to fly from the ashes of such hardships and tragedy, to find a place that they could call Heaven.

And now, with God's Death, all the world became locked, frozen in existence. But God wasn't really the Father, was He?

And if that were so, who was the real Creator?

Perhaps their existence, as Angels, was an Annunciation from that true God, whose plan was far more perfect. Perhaps that God saw something in the future for all that He had created.

If so, what does He See?

What does He _See_?

Yet…

With Gabriel, she will forever remain the spectator as all the universe changed around her—a perfect doll that was frozen in time. She sometimes wondered as to what had happened to that child she had brought to that virgin mother. What became of him after his death? She wondered if he was perhaps, like her, watching as the tale unfolded.

Maybe that was the master plan that the True Creator always had. Maybe, as fate unfolded, as time passed, as they are born and die, they will come to understand the Truth—the question of their very existence and all the knowledge they wish they had.

Would then, Gabriel thought, that the true Angel of Annunciation come and bring them the Word.

Would they then reach that place they dream of all their lives?

Would they have reached the true Kingdom of Heaven…

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_Fin_

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© January, 2005 by Jia Zhang. All rights reserved.

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